Scripture Spotlight

The Witness of the Sons of Korah

David Scott Fields II, Senior Writer

January 19, 2020

One of the joys I have had for the last several years is teaching kindergarten Sunday school at my local church in Jupiter, Florida. While most weeks it is a joy, some weeks it can be difficult, especially when trying to teach a challenging passage in the scriptures. Lately, I have been teaching about the Israelites wandering in the wilderness. This can been a hard section to stomach because it involves so much death. Because of their ingratitude, grumbling, idolatrous and rebellious hearts tens of thousands of Israelites fell under God’s judgement and perished, most in very terrible ways like plagues, fire from heaven, and even being swallowed by the earth. To a person many thousands of years removed from these events, it is easy to cringe at this and wonder how a loving God could be so harsh.

However, aside from the fact that God is holy and must punish sin, I think it would be helpful to consider another perspective on these judgments – that of the people who were actually there! I don’t mean the people who fell under judgement. I am sure they were less than thrilled with God’s response. I refer rather to those who were eager to obey the Lord. Were they constantly plagued by the sinful grumbling around them? Did the rebellion of their contemporaries cause them to fear and call out to God for protection? Did an overwhelming feeling of relief consume them when the voices of the sinners were finally silenced? Did a reverent fear of the Lord cause them to love Him all the more? The Bible gives us a few clues.

In my opinion, the most impressive are those dealing with a man name Korah. In Numbers 16, Korah and his associates, including 250 leaders of the people, sought to usurp the authority of Moses and Aaron. As a result, the 250 were burned up by fire from the Lord (Num. 16:35), and Korah and many more were swallowed alive by the earth (Num 16:32). The next day, it seems outright hysteria had broken out as the people began to blame Moses and Aaron for all those deaths. As a result of this rebellion, 14,700 more died of a plague before Aaron made atonement for them and God withdrew the plague. It was definitely a very difficult few days in the camp of Israel. Yet despite the fact that Korah started all this rebellion, a few young men related to him saw all this sin and made a different decision than their father. We are told in Numbers 26:11 that “The sons of Korah…did not die.”

Not only did they not die, but they became authors of inspired scripture as 11 psalms are attributed to them and their descendants! It might surprise you to realize that you probably even quote portions of their psalms to encourage yourself and others without even realizing it. Do phrases like, “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble” or “Be still and know that I am God” sound familiar? They are part of Psalm 46, written by the sons of Korah. It is likely these men witnessed the terrible judgement their father endured, and yet it did not change their perspective on or love for God. Perhaps it made it even stronger, and for certain we still get to benefit from the wisdom of these men today. If they did not give up their faith when they saw the judgments of God, which included the death of their father, how can we so easily doubt Him when merely reading of these accounts?

God always does what is right, even if our sinful, limited perspective cannot always understand that. Thankfully, those who have repented and placed their faith in Jesus Christ have passed from judgement into life. One day even those things in the scripture that are difficult for us to accept will make perfect sense, and we will see through it all God’s holiness and love. For it is written, “For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face; now I know in part, but then I will know fully just as I also have been fully known. But now faith, hope, love, abide these three; but the greatest of these is love” (1 Corinthians 13:12-13).

For more wisdom from the sons of Korah see Psalm 42, 44-49, 84, 85, 87, and 88.

References

Scriptures have been taken from the NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE ® Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Photo Credit

The title image was created by Gustave Doré. the This images is in Public Domain and was provided via Wikimedia Commons. Thrive Christian Press makes no claim on this image.

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